Friday, February 15, 2013

NBA 2K13 Roster Analysis 2/15/13

2K Sports FINALLY released all the 10-day contract players and took Amare out of the Knicks starting lineup! I guess I really am the REAL 2K Insider since it seems like changes aren't made unless I bitch about them incessantly in my analysis. Just think of how much better 2K's rosters would be if they listened to me more than once a month!

Interested in what Rashidi would have to offer? Well it just so happens I'll be releasing my latest NBA 2K13 roster tonight for Xbox 360. It will have nearly 400 player edits (all rotation players), the best player ratings in the game today, no missing players, and updated contracts with adjustments that prevent the AI from making dumb decision (like Chris Paul signing with the Cavs as he does 100% of the time in 2K's roster).

Green was drastically overrated before this edit, and 2K has done nothing to change that. Green's Close shot rating inexplicably went up even though he is shooting 8% worse from that range. There also wasn't any reason to raise Green's block rating since it was overrated by 20 points entering the year (now "merely" 10-15 points overrated by 2K's own scale).

While the increase to Bosh's Inside and Medium shots are well deserved, he should have seen a bigger decrease to his Close range shot. That increase, combined with the increases to Bosh's post game are 2K trying to make Bosh something he is not. Bosh has been posting up less than ever before, instead utilizing his superior perimeter skills to his advantage..

So why raise Bosh's post ratings? 2K wanted to raise his Overall rating, and nothing more. Instead of giving Bosh some ratings he doesn't deserve, hows about you revise your faulty formula for centers? Pick and Roll, offensive rebounds, basket cuts, and defensive ability are far more important than post skills nowadays. The era of the lumbering stiff is long gone.

The increase to Bosh's rebound and block rates can be attributed to him spending the entire season at center rather than power forward. Predictably, these were already overrated to begin with and consequently didn't need an upgrade.

Lopez has easily been the best offensive center in basketball this year, and 2K drew a lot of criticism for decreasing his rating one month ago. His Inside shot could have gone up even further considering Bosh's went up to 93. With that said I'm not sure why 2K seems commitment is to making Lopez a competent mid-range player since he is mediocre at best, and has started to take this out of his game.

Drummond's block rating is 3 points worse than Brook Lopez's even though his block rate is better, so that should still go up. Drummond is clearly an extremely limited post player so I don't know why 2K is bothering to raise those ratings (aside from their burning to desire to prove they don't watch basketball).

Maggette hasn't even played since 12/15, yet he is still the 5th highest rated player on the Pistons. He is DONE as a player, yet he is still very effective in the game even with these slight decreases.

It was comical that Maggette's mid-range shot was rated so high when you look at what he shot last season.

It goes without saying that we can't take very much from Johnson's sample size this season. With that said, Johnson was TERRIBLE last season, and certainly shouldn't be more effective than most wingmen in the game.

Only in a game made by 2K Sports could a player attempt ZERO mid-range shots yet see an 8-point INCREASE to their mid-range shot.

As if we needed anymore proof that 2K Sports isn't actually looking at the numbers, Pekovic's Close shot somehow went up 20 points. We heard this guy is good! ...but we have no idea how or why, so let's just do what's gonna bump his overall up the most.

It has been months since a missing player has been added to the game, and there is no excuse for the bolded players to be missing.

Patrick Beverley recently tweeted Ronnie Singh (Ronnie2K), asking if he was going to be added to the roster. Ronnie lied to Beverley (or perhaps was misinformed) about being included in the 2/12 update.

Rather than be honest with Beverley, Ronnie instead covered his ass and lied about the reason why Beverley was absent from the 2/12 roster.

@patbev21 was told this morning that you were pulled from update. Sorry dude but I told Insider to prioritize you
— Ronnie 2K 2K13 (@Ronnie2K) February 12, 2013

Fast-forward three days to the following update, and it's clear Beverley wasn't "pulled" last minute. This was a cop-out by a 2K Sports employee who has no idea what is going on with the actual product, and perfectly illustrates the lack of professionalism that has gone into 2K's rosters over the past decade, and more prominently, the last five.

We have been marketed "Living Rosters", the "NBA Today", and an NBA "Insider" as key features within the game. Yet it's more apparent than ever that 2K simply doesn't take any of this seriously even though the majority of their fanbase does... and it irks me that 2K employees still pretend to treat the Insider as an actual person we can pass information along to. You'd have a better chance convincing me that CORPORATIONS are people, much less the 2K Insider.

HAWKS
Jeff Teague (PG), Kyle Korver (SG), Josh Smith (SF), Al Horford (PF), Zaza Pachulia (C)
Devin Harris has been starting at SG. Anthony Tolliver has recently been starting at PF which has pushed Smith to SF and Kyle Korver to the bench. 2K also has DeShawn Stevenson on the inactive list for no reason whatsoever - Stevenson even started twice this month, and has played 8 times in the past 10 games.